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Hi Ryan, In my experience EDMs have their place where keywords have low Difficulty scores (less than 30). To test this in 2017 I launched a domain for my UX Design agency using the URL: https://ux-design.agency/ We're tracking the keywords in Moz since 2017 and you can see the Moz chart here. At this time we have 26 keywords on page 1 for our EDM and similar variants. I think in this specific case another benefit has been that 3rd party authority websites that do want to link with just the URL, result in links that contain the target keyword text. You can see this in the last couple of months where we have won some awards and the resultant links have improved the organic positions. Lastly, I have seen this not work on more competitive search terms. Hope that helps Peter I think the success of this strategy eyybN4A

Thanks Paul. It is just this page that the issue is with. it is also a brand new site that isnt ranking. so hopefully it resolves itself eventually. Thanks, Ryan

Hi Ryan, I'd recommend focusing on the intent of the search and whether your conversion page satisfies that intent or not. If it does, then go for it. However, if the conversion page doesn't satisfy the intent, you'll see the new page drop in rankings. An alternative would be to leave the current page as it is and add a call to action and internal links to your conversion page for the segment of readers who are interested in the service.

Hi Ryan, Congrats on your great link! Hope this clarifies your doubts. Did you use the Google Search Console tool "inspect any URL in..." ? Did you search for the page - Google search box - that has the link, and then follow the link to your website? Regarding on how the link will improve the DA, it is hard to say. In my experience, can be from 2 up to 12. Why? it dependes on many factors like the PA of the page, if the page is highly related to the content into your website, if that content is "clear" for Google due to your meta tags are also related to the subject, it is within the best practices and so. Cyrus Shepard en-lights the subject here: https://moz.com/blog/20-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links Good luck! and please update us with the results. Happy New Year! Mª Verónica

Yes this absolutely answers my question, makes sense. Crazy how many sketchy SEO’s are out there. thanks, Ryan

Thanks! I just sent the email. Ryan

"1. how would a company this reputable with a DA 90+  be building pages like this without major penalties? (i realize it is from .au (australia) but from research they own that site too)" - actually being a reputable site makes you less likelyto gain penalties rather than more likely. A smaller less reputable site doing the same thing, would be more likely to garner devaluations and / or penalties. When you become authoritative and reputable, you gain 'trust' with Google. That's a barrier which you can eat into, instead of losing performance. Imagine two people in a friendship who really trust each other, yet one betrays the other. In all likelihood, that trust will be consumed but the friendship will survive. Now imagine the same situation between two people who don't trust each other, since there's no love lost - they will say goodbye and part ways. It may be difficult for a moral, human mind to accept - but trust is a consumable resource and businesses use it as such (just how it is I'm afraid) "2. how exactly does this work? are they selling links to people? did my competitor pay them to replace my link with theirs? why create a page that sounds like robots wrote it" - Ask them. Find your old link using Wayback Machine, show them your link existed and that it was removed and replaced with a terrible quality link. Maybe they have a rogue editor on the inside and you could bring them to justice. Maybe (instead) they'll refuse to care and they will wall up (to protect themselves). In any case, you could at least ask (without getting nasty about it, don't pick larger battles than you can win) "3. would it be a good idea for me to try to get the link back? it certainly was helping considering i lost 5 DA points when i lost the link, but it goes against everything that makes sense in what I've read about toxic links and keeping things clean" - I'd certainly try to get it restored. Wayback Machine might be able to help you prove your case and disparage a rogue editor for illegitimate linking practices

I use city-specific landing pages all of the time to facilitate local SEO for my service area clients.  The key to make enough of the content on the pages unique so that they pass muster when checked for duplicate content.  Typically, I'll create a blog-style article with 750 - 1000 words or more included within the content to boost the "unique-ness" of the content and then have my team right multiple versions of the topic from scratch for however many pages I need.  Its a bit labor intensive, but it works great. And then if a particular landing page isn't ranking well enough - I know for what pages to build links. In some instances, if a business has multiple services I'll create entire content silos that consist of a series of unique pages for each service/city combination.  For instance, a paint contractor offers interior painting, exterior painting and deck staining.  For City A, I build a page for City A + Paint Contractor and have it link to the three sub-pages:  City A + Interior, City A + Exterior and  City A + Decks.  Using internal linking and targeted back linking along with sufficient unique content on each page, we'll often see first page boosts within a few days once they are indexed.

I recommend: landscaping.com/landscapers-houston

Eugh, sounds frustrating and I understand your reaction, good luck with the grind!